​Sakura Hill Farm

Born 1965 Died 1995 Height 16.3 hh Breeder Paul Bahlman

Conceived in Holstein, born in Westfalia, licensed at Neumünster, and himself an international performer under Fritz Ligges, Ramiro influenced nearly all European Performance Studbooks.

Ramiro was the most popular representative of the Ramzes line and at one stage was the most frequented sire in Germany. He stood at stud in Westfalia, Holstein, Zangersheide and Holland.

 

The Anglo Arab, Ramzes was foaled in 1937 in Poland, and imported to Germany in 1948 by Clemens Freiherr von Nagel, who initially gave the stallion to German jumping rider, Hans-Heinrich Brinkmann as a competition horse. Ramzes stood at the Holstein Verband in 1951 and 1952 to refine the heavy Warmblood horses of the area. His sire was the great Thoroughbred, Rittersporn, while his dam was the Shagya Arab, Jordi. The Shagya is a breed that has been developed over several hundred years from a base of Andalusian, Lipizzan and Polish Warmblood mares, bred to Arab stallions.

 

Ramzes was an immediate success as a sire. His jumping offspring: Retina, ridden by Fritz Thiedemann, Romanus with Hans Günther Winkler and Ramona with Alwin Schockemöhle, established Ramzes’ fame in Holstein, and resulted in him standing there for two more seasons, in 1959 and 1960.

While in Holstein, Ramzes bred showjumpers, in Westfalia, he produced dressage horses. The Ramzes son, Remus won individual dressage silver and team gold at the Tokyo Olympics, where he was ridden by Harry Boldt. Two years later, another son, Mariano, ridden by Josef Neckermann, won the World Dressage Championship, with Remus collecting another silver medal. Mariano won silver at the 1968 Games – and four years later, at the Munich Games, another son, Robin was a member of the German gold medal winning showjumping team.

 

The Ramzes son, Radetzky established in Westfalia a line that led to Romadour II (although there is some doubt about the parentage of Romadour II) and in turn to his gold medal-winning son, Rembrandt.

In Holstein, Ramzes produced five licensed sons, including Raimond and Rigoletto. Rigoletto was sold to The Netherlands where he was an enormously successful sire of showjumpers. Raimond was the sire of Ramiro.

In his Stallion Book of the Holsteiner Warmblood Breed, Dr Dietrich Rossow has this to say about Ramzes and his influence:

“Ramzes was a medium framed, harmonious stallion with a very well set on neck, which was heavily muscled on the underside. He had a heavy poll, good width and depth of body and clean legs which were very good behind and light boned in front. His head was plain… In general it can be said that his Holsteiner offspring lacked size and were too fine… In conclusion it can be said that Ramzes had a positive effect on the old Holsteiner type. He sired a huge number of beautiful, supple riding horses. He decisively improved on the old, tremendous but high headed, flat backed jumping form. Doubtless because of his gaits, he produced hardly any dressage horses in Holstein. His offspring’s heads are not always the most beautiful.”

In his history of the breed The Holsteiner Horse, Romedio Graf von Thun-Hohenstein, values Ramzes mainly as a carrier of Thoroughbred blood:

“The marvellously positive results were doubtless due to the large percentage of Thoroughbred blood carried by Ramzes himself… Ramzes influence in Holstein seems to have achieved its greatest importance with the whole list of first class approved broodmares which carry his blood. On his dam’s side, Ramzes carried a great deal of Amurath blood, however his offspring did not show any Amurath characteristics. This is probably due to the large percentage of Thoroughbred blood. The hereditary Amurath tendency to produce pacing, which did not necessarily nullify jumping ability as seen in the Argram line of the Hanoverian breed, never occurred in Holstein.”

 

From Ramzes first breeding season, came the super mare, Fatinitza, showjumping from victory to victory under Fritz Ligges and Thomas Frühmann, she was to go on to be dam of the Zangersheide stallion, Almiro Z.

Bred to the Cottage Son daughter, Valine, Ramzes’ son Raimond produced Ramiro in 1965. When Ramiro was presented for selection, he was described as the ideal type of the modern Holsteiner – strongly imprinted by his dam, tall and elegant, showing the top line of his grandfather, Cottage Son xx, with powerful frame, a glorious face and large, clear eyes. His excellently formed neck, beautifully set, could still be seen – even when he was an old horse – and is stamped on his progeny. Ramiro displayed a very good walk, a normal trot, and a great canter.

 

Ramiro’s second season saw him in Holstein where he produced three stallions:

Rinaldo (out of a Trakehner mare), Rio Negro, who became a Grand Prix dressage horse, trained by Willi Schultheis, and Ronald, who was for years the most popular stallion in Holstein.

Ronald sired five licensed sons and more than a hundred top broodmares, many of whom became dams of sires like Alcatraz, Libero and Lord Incipit. Ronald, like his famous father, went to Holland, where he stood for five years, and sired, among others, the showjumping sire Saluut.

 

Ramiro’s influence on the Dutch Warmblood breeding was, and still is, of utmost importance. The Dutch bestowed the title – ‘Horse of the Year’ – on Ramiro in 1992. For Leon Melchior’s performance breeding program at Zangersheide, Ramiro was a key element in the mix.

Ramiro was among the early stallions to compete. During his own sporting career, Ramiro had numerous wins at all levels of showjumping – Nations Cups, Puissance (jumping over 2.2 metres) and in international Grand Prix competition.

Based at the Zangersheide Stud of Leon Melchior, Ramiro was presented with a selection of superbly bred jumping mares. His most famous ‘nick’ was with the foundation mare, Heureka. Argentina Z, the Heureka daughter by Almé, produced with Ramiro the stallion sons: Rebel I Z, Rebel II Z, Rebel III Z and Rock Z as well as Ratina Z who, ridden by Piet Raymakers and Ludger Beerbaum, won World Cup Finals, the European Championships, the Grand Prix of Aachen, individual Olympic Silver, double Olympic Team Gold, Team Gold at the WEG, and twice team gold at the European championships.

In the survey of the world’s top 75 jumping sires that appears in the French publication,

Monneron 2007-2008, Ramiro (who thanks to frozen semen was still producing foals 12 years after his demise), is ranked 23rd with 11 CSI winners, while his son, Robin I Z is 43rd with 7 representatives.